On Beverly Hills, 90210, Kelly Taylor (Jennie Garth) is the quintessential rich teenage girl. She doesn't feel loved by her family, she can go shopping whenever she wants, and she's boy crazy. After a while, she becomes a much nicer, better, and smarter person, and she manages to change a lot.
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Since this classic teen soap opera was on the air such a long time ago, the characters couldn't be featured in the exact same storylines today, and there's a lot about Kelly that seems very dated now. Here are a few blasts from her past — try not to cringe too much.
She Doesn't Think Twice About Stealing Her Best Friend's Boyfriend
Kelly is part of one of the most notorious love triangles in teen TV history. Basically, she steals her best friend Brenda Walsh's (Shannen Doherty) boyfriend. Kelly doesn't care that Dylan McKay (Luke Perry) is already dating Brenda and that they've been serious for a while — she just goes for it. Although Kelly mentions feeling bad, she still does it, and she doesn't take a step back from Dylan, but dives in even deeper.
This wouldn't fly today, as most contemporary women would never choose a boy over a best pal, and it definitely wouldn't win Kelly any friends.
She Wants To Date An Older Guy
There's a Beverly Hills, 90210/Melrose Place crossover when Jake Hanson (Grant Show) spends a bit on time on the former. He and Kelly flirt a lot, and she definitely wants to date him.
She's still a teenager, though, and he's much older, so this flirtation and potential relationship wouldn't be viewed so kindly today.
She Gets A Nose Job While Still In High School
It's pretty crazy to think that Kelly gets a nose job while she's still in high school. While this was something that was talked about a lot back in the '80s and '90s, it's not looked upon so positively in 2020, and people want young girls to embrace their flaws instead of jumping to plastic surgery as a quick fix.
The fact is that Kelly is way too young to get a procedure like this, and it shouldn't have happened.
She Joins A Cult
The storyline when Kelly joins a cult could be considered one of the worst story lines on the show, and it's also something that feels very dated. If this show aired now, Kelly would know better than to join a group like this, as she would have read all kinds of news stories about how dangerous this is.
There wasn't as much awareness of this subject back then, though, so Kelly made this decision.
She Hangs Out With A Classmate Who Shoplifts
In the first season, Kelly's friend Tiffany (Noelle Parker) shoplifts, and Kelly is often present when this happens.
Hanging out with someone who repeatedly commits a crime isn't exactly cool, and Kelly doesn't seem to really get that this is a big deal. It's only when Brenda is there too and they get arrested that Kelly seems to realize it's a problem.
She Only Cares About Being Loved And Popular (At The Beginning)
Kelly Taylor's priorities are seriously out of whack at the beginning of the series. She wants everyone to adore her and being popular is her only dream and goal.
This may change as she graduates from high school and sees what the real world is like, but wanting to be the most popular and famous girl in school isn't cool anymore.
She Gets Addicted To Diet Pills
Beauty, weight, and self-esteem are often topics of discussion on teen dramas. Beverly Hills, 90210 is no different, and Kelly gets addicted to diet pills.
This is treated like just another thing that women do to look good and it's only when things get really bad that everyone realizes Kelly could die. This isn't a very progressive series when it comes to letting females celebrate their flaws and appreciate what they look like.
She Gets Too Involved With Strangers
While Kelly wants to help people, she often puts herself into dangerous situations that would be taken more seriously today. She gets very involved in the personal lives of strangers without ever asking questions that would indicate if there was any real danger. In one instance, Kelly has a kid stay with her for a while because she met them on the beach.
It's really sweet that she does this, but she could get in a lot of trouble for not going to a social worker right away. She should go through the right legal channels.
She Dates Matt While He's Still Married
Kelly often acts like a do-gooder, but she dates Matt (Daniel Cosgrove) while he's still married.
It's a serious and sad situation as his wife has schizophrenia, but it doesn't make sense that Kelly would go ahead and jump into this relationship when he's not available.
She Forgives Steve When She Really Shouldn't
Kelly and Steve Sanders (Ian Ziering) have a long history together as they were in a serious relationship as freshman in high school. When Kelly finds out that Steve was the one behind some terrible rumors about her back then, as people would often lie about how promiscuous she was, she forgives him.
She really shouldn't lend her forgiveness to such a super serious matter. With the #MeToo movement, this just wouldn't fly today, and Kelly would have an important conversation with Steve instead of accepting his explanation that he was young, making it okay to say these things.